The Unknown Entities of PTSD in American Soldiers

People with PTSD often have anger issues and emotional problems. It is likely for them to have thoughts of suicide and feel completely disconnected from their lives and from other people. They have lived through a drastic trauma that is hard to overcome and go on with their lives. PTSD effects everyday interactions and feelings. Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder affects the daily lives of the people suffering from it. Some may need accommodations at work depending on their personal severance of the disorder. People with PTSD miss more days at work and work less efficiently than people without PTSD (PTSD Effects.) Certain symptoms of PTSD, such as difficulties concentrating and problems sleeping may make it difficult for a person with PTSD to pay attention at work, stay organized, or make it to work on time. People with PTSD also have higher rates of unemployment than people without PTSD. (Military)

The government sends the military off to fight wars. The cost of these wars are growing due to the medical treatment cost of taking care of the people that were sent off to fight for our country. Five percent of soldiers are diagnosed with PTSD, but since the Iraq and Afghanistan war that number has increased to eight percent. The number of people with PTSD went from 190,000 to about a half million.

The leading psychological condition of a returning veteran is post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD. The Mayo Clinic defines PTSD as a, “Mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event.” PTSD has been known to affect the lives of many returned veterans as they try to re-enter into society. Some of the more common symptoms of PTSD include, “recurring memories or nightmares of the event(s), sleeplessness, loss of interest, or feeling numb, anger, and irritability (What is Post traumatic Stress Disorder).” This can really affect the way people live their day to day life. There are people who cannot go a whole day without having an episode or panic attack. Some can’t even be around other people without it triggering bad memories, making it impossible for them to leave their homes. Other complications of PTSD include, “Increase your risk of other mental health problems, such as: Depression and anxiety, issues with drugs or alcohol use, eating disorders, suicidal thoughts and actions (PTSD).” This disorder is more common than most may realize and is so commonly not diagnosed or treated due to how they felt their peers would see them or even the potential damage to their careers. Nbc news wrote that, “Only 38 percent to 40 percent of those who indicated

"Not long ago, most therapists who heard a story like Albert Grow's would have thought about what his experience in Vietnam did to his relationship with his family, his community and his sense of self. Few would have given much thought to what it did to his biochemistry. That is about to change. Grow, a policeman in Salem, New Hampshire, came back from Vietnam nearly 30 years ago on a "freezer flight"--a transport plane piled with body bags. At the Boston airport, a woman called him trash and spit in his face. Not long afterward, he punched out two coworkers in a photo lab because they wore black arm bands to honor the Vietnamese dead. After a brief stay on a psychiatric ward, he burned his Marine uniform in his parents' backyard. He avoided

Some factors of, PTSD in war veterans are psychological trauma, illnesses, and a feeling they are still at war after coming home. Most war veterans’ will have PTSD after coming home from war, they also will have psychological trauma. In fact, in one article they said (witnessing death, destruction, and torture, and at time, continuous threats to one’s life; or participating in hostilities and killing can potentially lead to mental health problems). Because of, fighting in the war, many things they see or experience can traumatize them for life and may never go away. Some might go for help but might not get anything out of it because of their experience in the war, was too traumatic. Next, war veterans’ can feel as if the war is still going

Military Pathway (2013) concluded “Military life, especially the stress of deployments or mobilizations, can present challenges to service members and their families that are both unique and difficult”. Hence, it is not surprising that soldiers returning from a stressful war environment often suffer from a psychological condition called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. This paper provides a historical perspective of PTSD affecting soldiers, and how this illness has often been ignored. In addition, the this paper examines the cause and diagnosis of the illness, the changes of functional strengths and limitations, the overall effects this disease may have on soldiers and their families, with a conclusion of

His gray eyes fell to the floor, immediately shoot up to the ceiling. He stared blankly into space as he pondered the presented topic of PTSD; he folded his leathery hands and nodded as though in his mind he had recalled the entire 2 years he was at war. He interlocked his eyes with mine and shook his head in disappointment. I could hear the anguish in my grandpa’s voice, ”On several occurrences the ones whose lives I was able to salvage told me they wish I hadn't, they knew at this point they had fewer struggles here at war than they would at home”. My Grandpa was right, returning home can be just as intimidating as facing the battlefront. Most of the blame for this skepticism of returning home can be placed on one thing in particular: Post Traumatic Stress disorder. 3 out of every 10 soldiers returned home with PTSD("PTSD: National Center for PTS."). PTSD among war veterans is being overdiagnosed and mistreated, diagnosis needs to be

troops suffered extremely dangerous and unsettling conditions throughout the duration of the war. In fact, the war conditions were so bad, that many soldiers had later developed Posttraumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD), a condition which was discovered a few years after the end of the Vietnam War. PTSD is a condition in which a person experiences a number of adverse effects in his/her psyche due to the result of a single, or a sequence of intensely traumatic event(s) that occurred in his/her lifetime. This disorder is now known to have severe long-term effects on the human mind, particularly those that distort how the brain perceives and reacts to stress. In many instances, those who have PTSD are likely to develop cognitive dissonance and various other mood disorders.

PTSD is complicated by the fact that people with PTSD often may develop additional disorders such as depression, substance abuse, problems of memory and cognition, and other problems of physical and mental health. In addition to that, people who have PTSD have a hard time feeling emotions and this will be tough for the other family members, who seek compassion and understanding on things and when they can’t provide it, that makes it hard for everyone. Doctors call it a psychiatric disorder that can occur following the experience or witnessing of a life-threatening event such as military combat, natural disasters, terrorist incidents, serious accidents, or physical or sexual assault in adult or childhood. PTSD is a mental illness that is formally known as Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, is something that is commonly associated with people that have faced a form of trauma that is unlike what most people generally

PTSD can cause many effects in your daily life. These may start anywhere from right after the trauma up to years later. You may be impacted by PTSD by:

Imagine your worst nightmare. Now imagine your worst nightmare relived over and over again, but never being able to get away from the intruding thoughts about it or flashbacks from it. For someone with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, this is the everyday hell that they encounter. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD, is a silent attacker that at one time was thought to only affect soldiers. But after years of research, doctors began to discover that it was not just limited to soldiers. In fact, PTSD affects people from all walks of life- adults as well as children can become victims. Men

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD for short, is very real. It does not solely affect soldiers either. For example, my father, a retired firefighter, relives moments from when he worked at certain times when images are triggered. However, the modern soldier is more directly associated and found to have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. As Dexter Filkins, a former Baghdad correspondent for the New York Times, stated in his review on Redeployment “Armed conflict so fundamentally alters the environment it takes hold of that no aspect of life escapes undistorted: not love, not friendship, not sleep, not trust, not conversation.” Therefore meaning when most veterans return home, nothing is seen in the same light again. Phil Klay outlines several examples of this.

Veterans suffering from PTSD have a hard time adjusting to the outside world after their traumatic event, this can consist of individuals who experienced major military events, or individuals who were in actual combat and the amount of combat experienced. The symptoms can include physical reactions, nightmares, flashbacks and extreme emotional disturbances which can lead to violent reactions, suicidal thoughts and levels of depression

Conceptualizing posttraumatic stress disorder was in a way of thinking of the symptoms as part of a stress response continuum. The pathophysiology of PTSD can be simply conceptualized as the result of a failure to deal with overwhelming stress. Posttraumatic stress disorder was operationalized by the eight points of criteria in the DSM-5 to understand the frequency and intensity of symptoms experienced by patients with PTSD. Making the examination of the three written accounts clear to how individuals suffering from PTSD related to combat and healthcare stress are not only burdened by the stressors of being home, but at the same time being reminded of traumatic war events. Some who suffer from PTSD are able to return with little disruption

The soldiers of the United States military are extremely skilled at their jobs. Because of their training they understand that if they hesitate in combat that they or someone they care about will be killed. So from day one service men and woman are taught to be proficient in a war zone. The problem is that “becoming good at war often involves becoming bad at peace” (Aikins par. 6). Many of soldiers that have returned or are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan readjust to civilian life or the home front fairly easily. But ofttimes service men and woman returning from combat with PTSD have a wide range of troubles readjusting to the life they were once very accustomed to (Aikins par. 6). This